Tanning apparatus



Jan. 15, 1924.

w. s. SHAW TANNING APPARATUS 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed May 1,

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w. s SHAW TANNING APPARATUS Original Filed May 22 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Patented Jan. 15, 1924.

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WILLIAM S. SHAW, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TANNING APPARATUS.

Application filed May 1, 1922, Serial No. 557,764 Renewed June 20, 1923.

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known that I, VVILLIAM citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tanning Apparatus, of which the following is a specification,

reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the reference characters marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in tanning apparatus and more particularly to an improved, rotatable tanningwheel for vats containing liquid tanning solution.

In apparatus now in use, the wheel is rotataloly mounted in a vat having a semicylindrical bottom, in which the tanning liquid solution is placed; the wheel consisting of an open drum, the periphery of which is formed by a plurality of spaced apart slats of wood to which the hides or butts to be tanned are fastened. As the wheel is rotated, the hides are pushed and pulled through the tanning solution.

One objection to devices of this type is the means of fastening the hides to the slats, which, in order to hold, has heretofore included sharp prongs or friction means, the former frequently piercing the hide or butt and so injuring it at these places as to cause material damage and loss, and the latter clamping the hides so firmly between its surfaces as to prevent the tanning solution from properly penetrating into the hide where so held, thus also lowering the value of the product.

Another objection to devices of this type consists in the holding of a portion of the hide or butt in a taut or stretched position during rotation of the wheel and thus preventing that flexing and'loending of the hide so necessary to open the pores and permit the tanning solution to freely penetrate the hide.

The principal object of my invention, therefore, is to produce a wheel so constructed as to overcome these and other objections; one which will be'simp le and easy both to load with hides and unload When the tanning operation is completed. Another object is to provide means for mounting the hides whereby, during the rotation of the wheel, the maximum of fleXure and working of the hides occurs, the pores are opened, a

SHAW, a

more thorough penetration of the tanning solution is insured, and amore satisfactory and perfect tanned leather is produced. The. invention consists in the devices and combination of devices herein illustrated and described, and will be more fully understood by reference to the appended claims.

A wheel constructed in accordance with the principles of my inventionis illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is an end elevation of the wheel or drum, partially broken away, the vat being indicated in section.

Fig. 2 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view of the wheel and vat.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View of the means for clamping the slats'in position in the drum.

Fig. 4 is a transverse, sectional View of one ofthe slats, showing the position of the hide or butt thereon,

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the working or changing position of the butt or hide, during the rotation of the wheel.

In said drawing, A represents a vat of any convenient conventional form, having a semi-cylindrical chamber 1, adapted to contain a suitable tanning liquid solution, which is indicated at 2. This tanning liquor may be heated, if desired, by means of a coil of pipes, indicated at 3, leading from any source of steam or other heatsupply, not shown.

B is a drum or wheel of considerably greater diameter than length; This may be, for example, eight feet in diameter and forty inches in length. This wheel consists of two heads of wood, 4, 5, anda plurality of bars 6, of wood,,four being shown; the heads 4, 5, being spaced apart by said bars and being secured together by four metal rods 7, 7, located one under each of the bars 6. One of the heads 4 is provided on its outside with a boss or bracket 8, carrying a trunnion 9 mounted in a suitable bearing 10 on the vat. The other head is provided with a similar bracket 11, carrying a rotatable shaft 12, and mounted in a bearing 13 in thetank A. The shaft 12 may be rotated from any suitable source of power, not shown. p

The heads 4 and 5, are also provided with a plurality of spaced apart, hide-holding slats 14a On the inside face of each of the heads 4, 5, are outer and inner circumferential rings 15, 16, which rings are spar-er. apart so as to form a circular guideway 17. The inner ring 16, it will be seen, is a continuous ring, but the ring 15 is composed of four sections, each somewhat less than one-fourth of the total circumference, whereby four spaces, 18, are provided between the abutting ends of the said sections. These spaces 18 are of slightly greater length than the width of the slats 14 and the hide or butt which is placed thereon.

Each of the slats 14 is provided with a longitudinal recess on each of its two sides, and each of'these recesses is filled with a piece or strip of felt indicated at 19, and secured to the slats by copper tacks 20. It will be noticed that the thickness of the felt strip is greater than the depth of the recess in the slat, so that the felt projects outwardly from the surface of the slat 14. H represents a hide or butt, folded between its ends into U-form, and slipped over to straddle the slat 14. The looped portion, in-

dicated at 21, is upon that part of the slat 14 that is to be the outside of the drum when the several slats are positioned in the guideway 17.

In filling the wheel, the free ends of ahide, indicated at 22, 22, are passed through one of the openings or passageways 18 as also are the ends of a slat 14, until said ends rest upon the inner wall of the guideway 17, i. e. the circumference of the inner ring 16. This slat and the hide that straddles it, is then moved along in guideway 17, being retained therein by the outer ring 15. Other slats and hides are then similarly positioned, until the entire section, or about one-quarter of the guideway 17, between two of the four cross bars 6, is filled with slats 14, each holding a hide. These slats are held immovably in this one-quarter of the drum or wheel B by means of a suitable clamping device, such as is illustrated in Fig. 3. I

This clamping device consists of a plate 23, one on the upper surface of each bar 6, and a movable, slotted bracket 24 on top of each plate 23. The plate and bracket are preferably provided with roughened, complemental surfaces, indicated at 25, and are held together by a nut and bolt 26, 27. The bracket 24 is provided with an inwardly projecting arm or lug 28 which rests against the side of one of the slats 14. One quarter of the wheel being loaded, as above explained, it is now given one-quarter of a turn and the next quarter section of the guideway 17 filled with slats and hides, and so on until the guide is completely filled. The circumference of the wheel or drum B then consists of these spaced apart slats 14 and the four bars 6.

The diameter of the semi-cylindrical chamber 1 of the vat is such that the curved or looped portion 21 of the hide when extended out, diametrically, from the periphery of the outer ring 15, will clear and not contact with the inner wall of the vat as the wheel B is rotated. The balance of the hide will hang freely on the inside of the wheel B. The hides will thus be clamped between the felt strips 19 of adjacent slats 14 and as said strips extend outwardly from the side faces of the slats, it follows that the hides do not come in contact with the strips 14. One of the strips 14 may have a straight, UIl-lGCBSSGCl side face, as shown in Fig. 3, for the more convenient clamping by the lug 28, and the opposite side of the bar 6 may begrooved and be provided with a felt strip 19, as shown also in Fig. 3.

It will be understood that the hides are clamped together over a relatively small surface area, to-wit: an area equal only to the width and length of the felt strips 19, and also that the hides are so clamped as not to be in any manner injured, there being no sharp points to indent or puncture the hide. Moreover, the felt readily becomes saturated with the tanning compound and thus affords ample opportunity for the tanning solution to actually contact with and penetrate into that part of the hide which is subjected to the clamping action. Thus all of the hide is treated with the tanning solution.

In Fig. 5, I have shown diagrammatically, the proximate positions of one hide H during the rotation of the wheel B. It will be seen that the ends 22 at first hang vertically above the tanning solution. Dur ing the first quarter of rotation, these ends begin to fall and they constantly change position until they enter the liquid and are passed edgewise therethrough, flexing and bending and changing their positions again as the rotation proceeds, until finally they again hang vertically.

It will also be noticed that the looped portion 21 of the hide also flexes and bends and changes position as the wheel rotates. It is highly desirable that this flexing of the hides takes place during the time that the leather is subjected to the action of the wheel and the tanning solution in the vat, it being obvious that the more the leather is worked back and forth, the more open the pores become, and the more readily the tanning solution will penetrate to the interior of the hide.

lVhen the tanning operation is complete, the tanning solution may be drawn off and clear wash water placed in the chamber 1, and the wheel again rotated to clear the hides from any excess of tanning material. It is obvious that after the tanning and washing operations have been completed, the hides OI butts H may be readily removed by first loosening, the nut 26 and bolt 27, and moving the plate 24- away from the slat 14:. The wheel may then be rotated a short distance at a time, equal to the width of the slat, and either the entire slat and the hide H re moved together, or simply the hide H removed and a fresh hide placed on the slat 14.

I have found that this apparatus produces a leather of superior quality, and that the tanning materials penetrate into the leather more readily than with prior machines with which I am familiar. The Wheel is not expensive to manufacture and has no complicated parts to get out of order.

I claim as my invention:

1. A tanning apparatus comprising a vat for containing the tanning liquid,and a rotary drum or wheel mounted therein, said wheel having two spaced apart heads, spreader bars, binding rods, and a plurality of removable slats, strips of soft, liquid absorbing material between the slats and means for clamping the hides between said strips.

2. A tanning apparatus comprising a vat for containing the tanning liquid, and a rotary drum or wheel mounted therein, said wheel having two spaced apart heads, spreader bars, binding rods, and a plurality of removable slats, strips of soft, liquid absorbing material between the slats and means for clamping the hides between said strips, said means including a bracket upon a fixed part and movable with respect to the slats.

3. A rotatable wheel for a tanning apparatus, comprising end heads, spreader bars and clamping rod, two annular, concentric rings on the inside face of each head forming a circular guideway between them,

a plurality of spaced-apart slats defining the periphery of the wheel, the ends of the slats being supported in said guideway, and means for holding the slats in place.

4. A rotatable wheel for a tanning apparatus, comprising end heads, four equally spaced spreader bars and clamping rods, two annular, concentric rings on the inside face of each head forming a circular guideway be-- tween them, a plurality of spaced-apart slats definingthe peripheryof'the wheel, the ends of the slats and of said spreader bars being supported in said guideway, and means for holding the slats in place.

5. A rotatable wheel for a tanning apparatus, comprising end heads, spreader bars and clampingrods, two annular, concentric rings on the inside face of each head forming a circular guideway between them, a plurality of spaced-apart slats defining the periphery of the wheel, the ends of the slats being supported in said guideway, means for holding the slats in place, and an opening in the outer ring to permit the slat end to be inserted in the guideway.

6. A rotatable wheel for tanning apparatus comprising two heads, spreader bars and clamping rods, an annular slat supporting guideway on the inner face of each head, a plurality of'removable, spaced-apart slats in the guideway and extending from head to head, the slats having spacing material of felt or equivalent material on their proximate faces, and means for clamping the slats in operative position in the guideway.

In testimony that I, claim the foregoing as my invention I afiix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 26th day of April, 1922. i a

WVILLIAM S. SHAW.

Witnesses:

TAYLOR E. BROWN, B. L. MAoGrREGoR. 

